Call The Midwife!

I have received numerous e-mails regarding my home birth experience so I'll just write it down here so I can refer whomever to it! I am not a home birth guru by any means but I did have one "cabin birth" so I can only talk of my experience.

I have a wee bit of an obsessive personality so when we had discussed the option of doing a home birth I spent hours and hours and hours researching. After reading about births for countless hours and discussing the two different options with my midwives I felt a home birth was right for me. I feel that home births and midwives still have a little bit of a stigma surrounding them. I find BC to be a little bit more progressive than the rest of Canada. I don't understand why some provinces aren't even legislated?! Crazy talk! When I was spending the month in Comox, locals would ask me if I was doing home birth or hospital birth? I liked that. It's nice having options and it's nice to see people more open minded. A lot of friends and families responses were, why would you do a home birth? That is too scary! I'm scared for you! Why a midwife, we aren't in the stone age? You are such a hippie! They were saying all of these things because it is foreign to them and they were just worried but Midwives go to school for four years and specialize in births. My midwives were extremely professional, caring and simply wonderful. At each prenatal appointment you are given 45minutes with them, and not once did I feel I was being rushed out. We didn't just discuss pregnancy we talked about life as well so you establish a great relationship with your midwife. They always have a midwife on call as well so if you have any concern or any little question they encourage you to call. I LOVE midwives and would really encourage you to use one if you have the option when having a baby!

Jon's biggest concern was what if something was to go wrong and we weren't in a hospital, what would we do? The midwives honestly bring the hospital room to you. The amount of "stuff" they lugged in was insane. They are prepared for routine births as well for any kind of emergency situation that may arise. From resuscitation equipment to a baby scale, they got it all! Our midwife also said that in a serious emergency situation they don't mess around. If they feel an intervention like a c-section is needed, they would rush you to the hospital. The hospital was five minutes from our cabin.

I was considered low risk so I felt super comfortable with a home birth. If it was my first baby I might not be as comfortable as I was. I kind of new the drill from my first birth so I was more at ease.  I know things can change so quickly and you can go from being low risk to have something go very wrong in a split second, but I felt very comfortable with my midwives and my body. I loved being able to labour freely and not worry about rushing to a hospital. Hospitals are so sterile, as they should be, to me it just doesn't seem like a right place to have a baby. I wanted to feel cozy. I could light my candles, eat food, make tea, laze on the couch, sit in the dark and not be hooked up to monitors. And where what I wanted while roaming around our teeny cabin. It was really freeing! I liked not feeling like a sick patient and more like a healthy woman about to give birth to her babe.

I obviously didn't have a true home birth as I was in a randoms cabin. If they only knew what went down in there, oops! I wish I would have bought plastic to put on the sheets. I was so concerned with soaking their bed with blood that I wasn't able to fully relax after I gave birth. You clearly just want to sleep and cuddle your babe after delivery but I just was so worried about that damn bed. I had incontinence pads down which did the trick but I was constantly adjusting them. So for the bedroom buy plastic, incontinence pads, and use old sheets! Oh and don't forget about hydrogen peroxide, that stuff gets everything out! I must remind you that when you have a home birth the midwives do the initial clean but after they are gone it's all up to you. Scratch that, it's all up to your partner! So if your partner isn't ok with cleaning up blood , a home birth might not be for you. Make sure you are sleeping in a bed closest to the bathroom! Poor Jon cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. We were also paranoid with leaving any little spot because it wasn't our cabin. If I were to do it again I would have covered that cabin in towels and plastic before I went into labour.

We also forgot about the placenta, ohhh placenta. I guess when you deliver the placenta it needs to go somewhere. So one of the midwifes ran into the kitchen and grabbed a huge bowl. So there sat my placenta, in a bowl, for a good 24 hours. Jon gave it to the ocean because we just felt weird tossing it in a garbage bag for some reason.

After you have your babe the midwife comes over to your place a few hours later to check up on you and the babe. Then the next day and then every second day. After the first week, you go to them at the clinic at two weeks, four weeks and six weeks. My midwives called me every other day for the first couple of weeks because we came back to Ukee and didn't feel like driving that far. They are also always on call so you can call them whenever you need.

The care I got from my midwives was phenomenal. When you have a home birth you have a midwife and an attending midwife, and mine were the best! So to answer the biggest question, yes I highly recommend a home birth if you can birth in your own home and are low risk. And if you choose a hospital birth, find yourself a good midwife to catch your babe!

PS Happy International Day of the Midwife!! 

Sawyers Birth Story Part 2

When the pitocin kicked in the bleeding started to slow down. I think what made me the most scared at that moment was the look of concern on the midwives faces. They looked pretty panicky which made me a wee bit nervous. Once relief started to sweep their faces I was able to relax, kind of. My poor vag was in need of some attention. So Jon took Sawyer and I got my good old vag sewed up. Sawyer was kind to me surprisingly, I don't know how granted he was so large. I think maybe it's because I let my body do most of the work where as with Willow I was marathon pushing. I took a very long time to recover from my first birth, with Sawyer I felt fine a couple of days later.

I was finally able to just relax and cuddle in bed with my brand new babe. Sawyer didn't want to nurse right away so I was okay with just cuddling and adoring. I told Jon to call my parents and tell them to come over so they all could meet the newest family member. I was so excited to see sweet Willows face when she met her bro for the very first time.

Fifteen minutes later Willow and my parents came barrelling in. Willows face was actually the cutest and it is something I will never forget. She had the biggest smile and was just in awe, such a proud loving sister from the get go. My family all piled on the bed and just gazed lovingly at our little Sawyer.

Cat asked if I wanted to try and shower. I was definitely in need, but I just didn't want to move. I finally built up the courage and dragged my exhausted body into the shower. It was in there that I almost fainted. I lasted about one minute in the shower and I felt like I was going to tumble down like a brick wall. Cat immediately rushed me out and my biggest concern at that moment was bleeding all over the bathroom floor. I clearly had just done that as I gave birth in there! In my exhausted state, I insisted on walking into the kitchen to take an iron pill. I figured that would be the cure all to all of the blood loss. Poor Cat had to deal with stubborn old me, at the beginning she tried to tell me that an iron pill was the least of our worries and I just needed to be in bed. She learnt fast to just give up because I am to strong willed. I was on a mission to get that pill and I forgot about the bleeding everywhere part. When I got back into bed I had no colour to my skin. Jon said I basically looked like death. Thankfully I had a sub waiting for me that I didn't get a chance to eat before. I chowed down so hard, a subway sandwich had never tasted so right.

My fave picture of Jon adoring Sawyer and Willow and I chowing down 

After a few more checks, some cleaning and paperwork the midwives left. Than mom, dad and Willow left. And there was Jon, the new babe and I...all by ourselves. So the one thing you forget about when you have a home birth is just all of the work the nurses do in postpartum. They check on you throughout the night, they check the babes vitals, they help you to the bathroom, they clean, and they are there for your general well being. The midwives are on call and they tell you to call them if you have any concern at all and they will rush right over. We didn't have any immediate concern, I was just ready to get a little shut eye. While I did that Jon went around the cabin to make sure there wasn't any blood left on the floor. The place looked like a murder scene before the midwives cleaned, it was horrifying. After a couple of hours I had to go to the bathroom. Jon helped me slide over to the edge of the bed to stand, and when I stood blood gushed EVERYWHERE again. Yes I was wearing one of those pads that resemble a diaper and yes I was holding an incontinence pad underneath me. I waddled as fast as I could to the bathroom and I bled so much that Jon was ready to call an ambulance. The poor guy was terrified which again made me terrified. I remember bleeding a heck of a lot with Willow but this was way too much. I told Jon to just get me back to bed and see how it was then. It slowed down a bit, I think it just was all pooled in there from my hemorrhaging earlier and it just all gushed out when I stood. So poor Jon was up allll night long cleaning my blood. I think that's the only thing we didn't like about the home birth is not having a nurse around to help you in the middle of the night.

Nine a.m (Christmas morning) rolled around pretty fast and Cat came over to check on us. She checked both Sawyer and I and all was good. My parents and Willow came a couple hours after that. Jon was cuddling Sawyer in the living room and I was in bed when they arrived. Mom and Willow went to go and give Sawyer some cuddles and kisses and my Dad came right to me. That's something I will never forget. He wanted to come and check on his baby girl and although I didn't say anything my heart was bursting with love and gratitude for my old pops. What a gem! He then told me I stunk, haha typical dad move. I spent the afternoon in bed with Sawyer, bonding and nursing. Mom, Dad and Willow went up to ski hill for Christmas dinner. So Jon and I had a gourmet feast of spaghetti in bed and Sawyer feasted on milk, perfection.

Thank You Sawyer for being the greatest Christmas gift, ever!! We love you so very much xoxoxo

Birth Story (part 1)

I had been having crazy Braxton Hicks contractions for weeks and I had gone into false labour the weekend before, so my body was more than ready to give birth. My uterus was primed right up to have this baby from all of the practice it had gotten and I was also downing raspberry leaf tea like a feen. On December 23rd I knew I was going to have this babe soon. My mom wanted us to the stay the night so we could celebrate Christmas the next morning as they were planning on going skiing on Christmas day. But I just wanted to stick around the cabin that night... just in case. I ended up getting about an hour sleep because my contractions kept on waking me and I was feeling pretty anxious. The contractions would be five minutes apart and then jump to being ten, so very irregular and very frustrating. On the 24th Mom, Dad & Willow came over to the cabin and we opened presents.

I was still contracting irregularly. Dad & Jon were on contraction timing duty and I would let them know the second I was feeling one and then they started predicting on when I was going to get one. They were making a game out of my pain ;p. We watched tv, we played cards and we just relaxed. At around 6pm my contractions had been every five minutes, lasting a minute long for the past hour and a bit and feeling pretty intense. Dad and Jon got my pool ready, mom was entertaining Willow and I was working through my contractions. I kicked my parents and Willow out of the cabin because unfortunately when I go into labor I go into my own little world and can't have any distractions. Jon called the midwife to let her know where I was at and she came 10 minutes later.

When she arrived she told me I was much too chipper and she wanted to come back when I wasn't so cheerful. She did a check and I was only 3cm dilated but my cervix was completely thinned out. She left to go and get changed ( the poor girl showed up in her party dress as it was Christmas Eve) and have a nap. She told us she would call the cabin at nine and see how I was doing at that point. She had said to call her before if I felt that one contraction that was different from the rest. I had asked her if I should go for a walk, bounce on my ball, and/or squat to make things progress. And she said do what you want but I would suggest watching a funny movie, relax and make out with Jon. I watched a little bit of Seinfeld but than that annoyed me, I turned on some tunes but they annoyed me and making out with Jon at that point was out of the question. Cat called to see how things were and I told her everything was fine and we would call her if anything had changed. I had just asked Jon to open the window so I could listen to the ocean and than boom I had THAT contraction. I felt him move his head and engage and my water broke a minute later. This was only five minutes after we had talked to Cat on the phone when everything was manageable. Jon called her and told her we needed her and the attending midwife, Emma asap. I hopped into the birthing pool to relieve some of the tension. The only thing is it wasn't filled up enough. I tried to enjoy the warmth as much as possible but I felt like I needed to push so badly. Jon & I were pretty worried the midwives wouldn't make it in time and I was trying my darndest to hold that baby in. For relief I was squeezing Jons arm really really tight and making the most obnoxious sounds. With Willow I internalized everything because I didn't want to be loud in the hospital, in my own space I let loose.

At one point Jon said "there are car lights, thank god. Not to worry they are here". Nope, not them. I replied very hastily "why Jon, No! That's not fucking them". I decided they were never going to arrive and Jon hoist me in he car and head to the hospital. Jon insisted they would be here soon even though the look of sheer terror and panic was all over his face.  They finally arrived ten minutes later which clearly felt like an hour. The first thing I said to Cat was " I am not chipper ANYMORE!!!!!!!!" They came rushing in and immediately started setting everything up.  They bring a lot of stuff with them, they basically have everything a hospital room would have all jammed in a bunch of duffel bags.

Cat didn't like the position I was in the pool. My vagina had to be completely immersed in the water or totally out for the baby to be able to breathe properly when born. She just told me to completely submerge myself when pushing or to lift my butt up. I decided I didn't want to have the worry and hopped out of the pool. Well not really hopped, more like breached (think whale) myself out. I thought at that moment it would be a good time to go to the bathroom. When you are fully dilated and ready to give birth, I highly advise against walking anywhere of you don't have to. It's pretty hard work. They tried telling me it was just my baby wanting to be born which was giving me the sensation to poop but me being stubborn me insisted on going to the toilet. When I got on the toilet I had the immediate sensation of relief and I started to push right away. Finally, so much of my pain diminished. To be honest pushing is my fave part, I feel like every sense is heightened and I am on some euphoric drug. Perhaps I am an adrenaline junkie and don't even know it :p. The midwives were telling me I didn't want to have this baby on the toilet and I could go anywhere else in the cabin but I really really didn't want to leave my throne. Cat insisted it wasn't safe for her to try and catch my baby in the toilet so I got up and crouched on Jon. And after gently pushing a couple of times, grunting and deep breaths out came Sawyer on the bathroom floor... at 10:20pm weighing a whopping 9lbs14ozs and 21inches long. Cat said when he came out he had his hand on his face, I was wondering why after the head came out he didn't come flying out of there. With willow I remember after the head the dr. popped her right out there. This little fella felt kind of stuck. It's because the crazy guy had his elbow sticking right out, hand on face. She tried to maneuver his arm as fast as possible and he grabbed her hand to help guide him out. Her first reaction was holy, he's huge, it's Frank the Tank! The little man gave her a cheezy little smile in his first second out of the birth canal. So while I had to push the placenta out we were making Old School references. After the placenta came out I hemorrhaged a bit. They got me onto the bed and gave me a shot of pitocin to make my uterus contract. I guess since Sawyer was so big my placenta was huge to feed such a big guy. So naturally the wound site of the placenta was quite large. 

I will continue part 2 tomorrow :)